GOMEZ SLAMS MASSIVE ENVIRONMENT POLLUTION IN PALOMPON, ALBUERA

 

Dateline Kamuning:

LEYTE Rep. Richard I. Gomez (4th district) today slammed blatant violations of the country’s land use and environmental management laws in the municipalities of  Palompon and Albuera in his district as he pressed the alarm on the massive pollution of the areas’ water, soil and air.

During a recent hearing of the House Committee on Environment and Natural Resources, Gomez also hit the seeming complicity of the local governments of Palompon and Albuera and the regional office of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) in the illegal activities of private businesses in their jurisdictions.

“My esteemed colleagues, I come before you to present a case of massive water, soil, air and environmental pollution, along with gross violations of our nation’s most fundamental land use laws. These acts continue to be committed in my district, the fourth district of Leyte, specifically in the municipalities of Palompon and Albuera,” Gomez said during the kick-off hearing into his proposed House Resolution No. 778.

In his proposed HR 778, Gomez called the attention of lawmakers to the operations of Zachary Farms in Barangay Lat-osan, Palompon, which was established in 2001, and was the subject of a public complaint that was addressed by former broadcaster and now Sen. Raffy Tulfo in 2021 after repeated clamor from surrounding communities.

“While the Tulfo exposé managed to cease the operations of Zachary Farms, the farm managed to reopen in 2022. After an NBI raid this year, Zachary Farms was found to be occupying and operating on Lot 6580, which is part of public forestlands. It was only then that operations of Zachary Farms ceased, hopefully permanently,” Gomez said.

The lawmaker also complained about the continued operations of the DBSN chicken dressing plant in the municipality of Albuera, which was established in 2015 and operates with a capacity of 55,000 chicken heads per day.

Gomez said DBSN’s operations have remained unhampered even to this day despite the repeated appeals of surrounding communities for the DENR Region 8 to issue a cease-and-desist order against the firm, citing the health and environmental risks from the presence of swarms of flies and the unbearable stench of chicken poop and parts, and for causing water pollution of the river leading to Ormoc Bay.

Gomez said the plant’s solid waste includes dead chickens, chicken intestines, and other parts and materials. Likewise, its wastewater is released in the bodies of water in Albuera.

A recent assessment study conducted by the Department of Biological Sciences of the University of Santo Tomas’ College of Science on the water quality, stream ecology, microbial analysis of the Albuera-Tinag-an stream system showed that the wastes polluted the waters of Ormoc Bay.

“The findings based on water quality, stream ecology, and microbial analysis suggest environmental degradation of the investigated stream in Tinag-an, Albuera, Leyte,” the study said, adding: “Disturbance in the water quality has started at the midstream sampling site where direct inputs from the poultry dressing plant has been identified.” The stream drains off to the Ormoc Bay.

“Identified point source where direct effluents drain to the stream has negatively affected the ecological integrity of the stream ecosystem. The undersigned stream ecologist, freshwater biologists, marine biologist, and microbiologists recommend strict regulation measures to be reinforced in the area to assess and rehabilitate the stream system and the coastal area where it drains. This preliminary study underscores current and future implications of unregulated direct effluents to the ecological health of stream and coastal ecosystems as well as public health of the local communities,” the Conclusions and Recommendations portion of the study stated.

“Lot 5150 is classified as public forestland, and therefore, by law could not be owned or occupied. This illegal dumping of chicken waste has been going on since about 2017,” he stressed.

“This lot is within 500 meters of the Palompon Watershed and Forest Reserve, safely within standard buffer zones. In the past two years, this establishment has been slapped numerous notices of violations by the DENR, yet fines and penalties remain inexplicably negligible,” the lawmaker lamented.

He also told his colleagues about the cases of illegal re-classification of land involving forest land, watershed area and its buffer zones, by way of misleading maps in the Comprehensive Land Use Plans (CLUP) of Palompon.

“Our legal, administrative, and executive status quo allows for violators to get away with it without the prospect of just penalty... Violators act the way they do simply because they can get away with it, “Gomez said.

 

He added that “chances are, these violations are also happening elsewhere in the country.”

“This outlines the main elements of a deliberately masterminded effort to undermine and disregard environmental and land use laws, in pursuit of personal greed... My fellow lawmakers, we are duty-bound to protect our country. This means we cannot allow our natural resources to be degraded, disrespected, devastated and damaged such that Filipinos are deprived of the most basic human needs - clean water, clean air, nutritious food and decent shelter. Let us not forget, that the weight of our actions today impacts not just Filipinos of today, but Filipinos of the future,” Gomez said.

He also said that “it is a great disservice, and the ultimate act of negligence and irresponsibility, if we do not address and resolve this matter expediently, so that lives, entire communities, municipalities and cities, at that, are justly protected and well-provided for with the most basic of human needs.”

In closing, the representative of Leyte’s fourth district reminded members of the House of Representatives that “environmental destruction does not only steal today’s resources, but also the environmental capital of future generations who do not vote today.”